The present invention relates generally to a fuel tank assembly, and more particularly to the fuel pump module and the level of fuel present at the inlet of the module when the tank contains a relatively low volume of fuel.
In some vehicles the vertical distance between the bottom of the vehicle and its flat floor is short, thereby requiring the fuel tank to be long, wide and short. When a fuel tank having this shape contains a low volume of fuel, the fuel spreads over a large portion of the bottom surface of the tank. If the vehicle runs out of fuel, adding a small amount of fuel to a tank having this shape can fail to restart the engine because the spread out fuel is not deep enough to allow the pump to be primed.
A fuel pump module located in the tank requires a specific depth of fuel to prime the pump. If fuel in the tank is not present at the fuel pump module with a sufficient depth, the engine cannot be restarted.
A need exists for a fuel tank assembly that ensures that a volume of about one gallon of fuel in the tank will provide a sufficient depth of fuel at the fuel pump inlet to re-prime the pump and restart the engine, even for long, wide and short tanks.